Pioneer Prologue

The Landing of the Pioneers, April 7, 1788

2010-04-07T11:00:00.003-04:00

In March of 1786, a group of Revolutionary War veterans met at the Bunch of Grapes tavern in Boston to form the Ohio Company of Associates. The purpose of the Company was to acquire a large tract of land in the Northwest Territory and promote settlement there. The following year, as Congress was devising the terms of the Northwest Ordinance, Manasseh Cutler negotiated a contract with Congress for the purchase of 1.5 million acres in the Ohio Country. Two parties of “adventurers” traveled west from New England in the winter of 1787-88, and rendezvoused at Sumrill’s Ferry in Pennsylvania. The superintendent of the expedition was Rufus Putnam, whose papers are now held in the Special Collections department of the Marietta College Library. In his journal, Putnam describes the trek of the pioneers and their arrival at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers on April 7, 1788, to begin the settlement of Marietta. To read Putnam’s entire journal, visit the Rufus Putnam Papers at the Digital Resource Commons of OhioLink and search for Rufus Putnam Journal of His Service to the Ohio Company:

http://drc.library.marietta.edu/handle/2374.MARIETTA/495

Saturday March 29th

Launched our great Boate named the Union Galley. She was intended to carry 24 Tun but as her construction is new her burden is unsertain - the Same day we launched a large Walnut Canoe about 2 Tun Burthen called the Katling Tender, haveing before Put in the River two other Canoes one called the Allen of about one Tun the other the Wesel of about 8 hundred Burthen. This with the Adelphi Ferry Boate of about 3 Tun Burthen make up our Flat with which we Shall proceed down the River

Monday March 31st

Colo. Sproate, Mr. Foster, and others, Set out with the Horses & oxen for the mouth of Buffaloe Creek and are to take on 500 lb of hard Bread number of Venison Hams with a Firken of Butter from Washington on Pack horses. Put a part of our loading on bord but the Rain prevented our compleating the loading and Setting out as was intended

Tuesday April 1st

45 minutes past one o clock we left Sumrells Ferry and falling down 6 mile took in one Tun of hay and proceeded to Mr Gees Ferry where we arrived at 9 o clock the Same.

April 2d got under way at 4 clock in the morning and arrived at Pittsburgh about 8 AM - left Pittsburgh at 2 clock PM. Passed great Beaver Creek at 8 in the evening

April 3d came too about 3 mile above Harmons Creek at 4 Clock AM waiting for day light to find said Creek. At 7 Clock the Same morning came too 3/4 of a mile below Harmons Creek haveing passed it through mistake. Mr. Foster arrived about 12 Clock haveing ben Engaged in forwarding a quantity of Pork from Mr. Southerlands to the River, Distance 4 mile. The provisions ware all got to the River this evening but the heavy rains which fell this evening prevented these as well as a Raft of Boards from coming Down

Friday April 4th haveing got the provisions on Board and the Boards on the Raft, we Set out about 1 Clock PM and arrived with the galley at Buffaloe about 3 Clock, leveing the Adelphi Ferry boat to take in Sum more Pork at Mr. Hendersons opposit Mingo Bottom Found the provisions not brought dow[n] as expected but that Mr. Wells was Zealously engaged in the business

Saturday April 5th

The provisions were all brought down in the course of the Day but too late to Set out till morning

Sunday April 6th

Put every thing on board early and left Buffaloe 23 minuts past 9 Clock AM. Passed Short Creek 46 minuts past 10, Wheeling 32 minuts past 12, Grave Creek 55 minuts past 2 Clock PM - came too at the Southerly part of round Bottom 55 minuts past 3 except the first mile in the morning we rowed none except to keep stearagch by but the awning & Baggage above the Gunwale, the wind being North easterly gave us about 2 [k]not through the Warter - left round Botom 1/2 past nine in the evening -

Monday April 7th

Passed the west line of the Seventh Range 35 minuts after 11 Clock AM - arrived at Muskingum at one Clock PM and came too on the East point or Fork between the Ohio & Muskingum, where we landed our Stock and Bagage with Some of the provisions, both Bagage and provisions haveing Suffered considerably by wet weather besides the hard bread brought from Washington being wholly lost and the Venison Hams much Injured by the pack horses falling into a Mill Race -

Tuesday April 8th

The day Spent in makeing Some temporary Cover till we can fix on the Spot for building

Wednesday April 9

Colo Sproat & Mr. Mathews began to Survey the Companys lands The people ware Set to clearing the land round our Camp Thursday I went with Majr. Doughty and others to reconnoiter the ajacant Country and perticularly the ruings of the ancient works

Friday April 11

I began the Survey of the 2d Botom or building ground of the ancient works or Town. The rest of the people ware employed in Cuting a road from our Camp to the Town Plot -

The Flood of 1937

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Seventy-three years ago this month, towns along the Ohio River between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Cairo, Illinois, experienced one of the worst floods in Ohio Valley history. January 1937 was the wettest month on record in Ohio. Precipitation in the form of snow, sleet, and rain, began in the early part of the month, and a storm system stalled over the area. The river was not completely back in its banks until early February. The region suffered a loss of nearly 400 lives and $500 million in damages.

While Marietta, Ohio, was not as devastated as many other cities, 46 percent of the town was covered with water, including the entire business district. The flood of 1937, which crested at 55 feet on January 27 in Marietta, was surpassed in height only by the food of 1913, which reached a height of 60.3 feet. Resources describing the flood of 1937 are available to researchers in the Special Collections department of Legacy Library.

The Marietta Daily Times, January 28, 1937.

Extensive news coverage of the event can be found in

newspapers on microfilm.

Pamphlets are available from the Local History Archives.

Front Street, January 24, 1937.

Harry P. Fischer Collection.

Fourth and Putnam Streets, January 27, 1937.

Stephen Durward Hoag Collection.

Journalist Lowell Thomas described the flood in a book entitled Hungry Waters, The Story of the Great Flood, Together with an Account of Famous Floods of History and Plans for Flood Control and Prevention, published by The John C. Winston Company of Chicago, Philadelphia, and Toronto, in 1937.

Other resources include the meteorological records kept by Marietta College professor T. D. Phillips from 1928 to 1941, which contain reports helpful to weather researchers. Also, oral history interviews with area residents who experienced the flood first-hand are available. Of special note is a 1973 interview with Lillian Spindler Sinclair, long-time registrar of Marietta College, who described how students were ordered to vacate the dorms and staff rowed to the post office to get the mail.

Additional information is available at the website Severe Weather in Ohio (Ohio Historical Society): http://www.ohiohistory.org/etcetera/exhibits/swio/pages/content/1937_flood.htm

The Virginia House-wife, or Methodical Cook

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Before Betty Crocker and Paula Deen, there was Mrs. Mary Randolph, author of The Virginia House-wife or Methodical Cook. First published in 1824, an original copy of the 1828 edition, containing 240 pages of recipes and helpful household hints, is held in Marietta College's Special Collections. Mrs. Randolph's motto, "Method is the Soul of Management," is boldly printed on the title page.

Mary Randolph was born into the Virginia aristocracy in 1762. In addition to a formal education, she received training in the managment of an upper-class household, which required knowledge of cooking and entertaining. Following her marriage to a cousin in 1780, Mary's reputation as a hostess was unsurpassed. About 1800, her family experienced severe financial setbacks, and Mary helped out by opening a boarding house in Richmond. Noting the lack of clear and concise directions available on the art of housekeeping, she decided to produce her own. Mary died in 1828, with her burial being the first recorded in Arlington National Cemetery. The inscription on her tombstone states that she was "a victim to maternal love and duty."

The following recipes selected from The Virginia House-wife may provide some assistance, or at least amusement, when planning this year's Thanksgiving dinner:

To Roast a Turkey

Make the forcemeat thus: take the crumb of a loaf of bread, a quarter of a pound of beef suet shred fine, a little sausage meat or veal scraped and pounded very fine, nutmeg, pepper, and salt to your taste; mix it lightly with three eggs, stuff the craw with it, spit it, and lay it down a good distance from the fire, which should be clear and brisk; dust and baste it several times with cold lard, it makes the froth stronger than basting it with the hot out of the dripping pan, and makes the turkey rise better; when it is enough, froth it up as before, dish it and pour on the same gravy as for the boiled turkey, or bread sauce; garnish with lemon and pickles, and serve it up; if it be of a middle size, it will require one hour and a quarter to roast.

Potatoes Mashed

When the potatoes are thoroughly boiled, drain and dry them perfectly, pick out every speck, and rub them through a colander into a clean stew pan; to a pound of potatoes put half an ounce of butter, and a table-spoonful of milk; do not make them too moist; mix them well together. When the potatoes are getting old and speckled, and in frosty weather, this is the best way of dressing them - you may put them into shapes, touch them over with yelk of egg, and brown them very slightly before a slow fire.

Pumpkin Pudding

Stew a fine sweet pumpkin till soft and dry - rub it through a sieve, mix with the pulp six eggs quite light, a quarter of a pound of butter, half a pint of new milk, some pounded ginger and nutmeg, a wine glass of brandy, and sugar to your taste. Should it be too liquid, stew it a little drier; put a paste round the edges, and in the bottom of a shallow dish or plate - pour in the mixture, cut some thin bits of paste, twist them and lay them across the top, and bake it nicely.

Cramer’s Pittsburgh Magazine Almanack, for the Year of Our Lord 1810

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Special Collections holds a variety of Western almanacs published in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati during the early years of the nineteenth century. Included are several produced by Zadok Cramer, a Pittsburgh printer, publisher, and bookseller. These almanacs contain helpful and interesting information for the pioneer, such as weather predictions, astrological signs, poetry, and advice on farming, health, and marriage.

In Cramer’s Pittsburgh Magazine Almanack, for the Year of Our Lord 1810, an essay by “Nicholas Pennyworth” provides instructions for financial survival during “Hard Times”:

Messrs. Almanack Makers,

Hard Times, is the cry among many worthy people. The times really deserved that name during the struggles of the American Revolution, and it may not be amiss to apply the same remedy now, that proved successful then, Economy and Industry. Set your spinning-wheels agoing, and make shirts and trowsers at home, instead of hiring speculators to go three thousand miles to get them spun for you. Raise more sheep and improve their breed, that fine coats can be made at your own fire-sides, instead of hiring your enemies to make them for you. Wear your old coats until this can be done, even should they be like unto Joseph’s, patched with many colours. Drink less whiskey and sow more flax and hemp. Talk less and raise more potatoes. Lose less time in winter, and build better houses for your cattle. Trim your orchards in season, and repair your fences before the corn comes up. A stitch in time saves nine, therefore patch your barn door while it is yet on its hinges. Stay at home and mind your own business. Runners and gunners come home barefoot. Boil the tea-kettle less, and churn more butter. Delay buying what your present need can put off, for small interests eat up big principals. Never pay your debts with promises, if you do, your purse has the advantage of you, it swims while you sink. If you want to travel easy, make good roads. Streams run best when the rocks are cleared from the bottom. If you want to make money, raise poultry and go to market. New fashions are the invention of the idle and cunning, avaricious speculators import them, and the vain and foolish, being caught with the glare, wear them. Our friends over the big water like us best when we work for nothing and find ourselves, that is, when we go to their market instead of attending to our own; when we employ their stocking-weavers and button-makers, while our own are starving for want of work.

Advice from an old man is generally spurned at – in whatever manner these hints may be taken, I cannot refrain from making them, and request you to print them, and if attended to in time, they may avert the coming of harder times.

Your old friend,

Nicholas Pennyworth

The Spirit of Homecoming Past

2009-10-15T14:49:00.004-04:00

Come back! Come back, O moments of yesteryear!

“Come back, too, all you Marietta Alumni. Come, join us in the great Homecoming on Thanksgiving Day. Let’s make it the beginning of an annual event . . .” With this call to alumni, the Olio supplement of November 24, 1922, proclaimed Marietta College’s first homecoming.

Reunions of the individual classes had been held for many years, and the annual Marietta College vs. Ohio University football match had become a major campus event. Never before, however, had the College welcomed all of its alumni to come together with all of its students in a grand Pioneer celebration. The “big game of the season” head-lined the activities, while the College band led a homecoming parade, and a program of “long to be remembered stunts” was put on by the fraternity boys.

As the years passed, many traditions developed as part of the annual fall celebration. Crowds gathered around a blazing bonfire for a pep rally on “Illumination Night,” Greek organizations draped their houses with festive decorations, and in 1937, MC’s football team elected our first homecoming queen – Doris James of Oberlin, Ohio.

From the 1940s to the 1970s, the parade featured floats that wound their way through the streets to the stadium. The elaborate designs – locomotives, dragons, pirate ships – were a treat for the whole town. Equally enjoyable was the tradition of “Serenades,” mini Broadway-style musicals staged by the sororities to introduce their candidates for queen. Traveling from one fraternity house to the next, the women presented Fiddler on the Roof and West Side Story.

In 1977, the men were given an equal opportunity to play royalty when Jack Smith of Mountainside, New Jersey, was elected our first homecoming king. And who could forget “Dean Pat” (Merrill R. Patterson, Dean of the College) delivering his annual protracted speech, fumbling with scrolls of paper, and dramatically announcing the queen and king during half-time ceremonies at the football game?

Unfortunately, the “big game” of 1922 ended in favor of Ohio University, 3-0. Students and alumni were still filled with “Pioneer Spirit” while they danced the night away at the Gridiron Ball, and as in every Marietta College Homecoming since, “after that, memories – memories clustered around the good old Blue and White, until we meet again on Homecoming Day!”

A Look Backward, by Chandler B. Beach, Class of 1863

2009-10-07T19:42:00.004-04:00

Marietta College Alumni Quarterly,
April 1923

When I entered Marietta in 1859 the college buildings were two, the Library Building and the Dormitory. In the former were the college library, the chapel and certain recitation rooms, and on the upper floor the Halls of the Literary Societies, Alpha Kappa and Psi Gamma, with their libraries. The Dormitory lives in the memory of Old-time students as the center of college life. Here studies were pursued with earnest application on the part of some and with wandering minds on the part of others; here focused the social life of the college, the close, genial, friendly association of young men, alike in their pursuits and in the experiences of daily life, leading to friendships which became life long. Here and on the seats around the pump on the campus were held the conspiracies of fun which saved college life from becoming a dull routine. The college day began with chapel at 7:30. One must put one’s room in order, go to breakfast and return in time for chapel. Thus it came about that the greatest activity of the day was displayed in the early morning. There was a legend that one morning a student rushed into chapel, breathless, breakfastless and combing his hair with his fingers.

Organized athletics which hold so large a place in college life today were unknown in our day, yet we were not without healthful and enjoyable recreations. Out-of-door sports were frequent and varied and tramps over the outlying hills with their many charming views were a delight. Harmar Hill was a favorite objective. It was then forest covered, not a house nor a clearing in sight, and from its summit, the town, the hills beyond, the shining Ohio with its Crescent Island, and the broad valley stretching away to the Virginia hills, gave to the eye a picture long to be remembered.

Fraternities, which had been under ban, made their appearance at this time in the advent of Alpha Digamma, the faculty having yielded to the plea of a group of the older students who were “of the finest of the wheat.” A chapter of Alpha Sigma Phi was inaugurated soon after. These were the only fraternities during my college term.

A feature of greatest interest to the students were the meetings of the literary societies, Psi Gamma and Alpha Kappa, which were held on the forenoon of each Saturday. Of the program presented at each session the number of special interest was the debate. The question to be discussed and the speakers on either side were assigned in advance and the speeches pro and con generally gave evidence of careful preparation and an eager desire on the part of contestants to win the decision. It is not too much to say that the work of these societies gave an added value to the college course, stimulating thought and initiative and giving to the student a knowledge of the orderly conduct of the public meetings and developing an ability to think on his feet which made him an intelligent and helpful citizen in community affairs later on.

I have long recognized with grateful appreciation the great good fortune which permitted me to sit for four years under the teaching and the personal influence of the members of the faculty of Marietta.

President Andrews was a man of rare qualities, both as a man and an educator, strong, wise, thorough in his knowledge of every phase of college work and college life, tactful and efficient. Without seeming to do so he dominated the entire institution, faculty and students. He held a high ideal of what a college course might and ought to accomplish for every student and to realize this sought to stimulate thoroughness in the preparation of every lesson. At the close of a recitation the lesson had been thoroughly analyzed, made clear in every point, and the measure of preparation given to it by every member called upon made evident. In his life President Andrews presented a high type of Christian manhood, clean, unselfish, unswerving in devoted loyalty to the Christian faith. He once said to me that he never had a doubt. Who can measure the impress of his character upon the hundreds of young men who sat under his teaching for four years.

On my first day at Marietta, passing through north hall in the old dormitory, I saw chalked on the bulletin board this legend, “Prof. Johnny the student’s friend,” a heartfelt tribute of one student and endorsed by a host of others who had been piloted through a labyrinth of Greek text and through many other tangles by our venerable and reverend Prof. Kendrick. Gentle, kind, anxious to help and slow to chide, the boys sometimes tried his patience, but there was a limit. I recall a recitation when two or three of the class were acting as kids, when his face became stern and he spoke sharply, “Young men, if you do not behave I shall take my hat and go home. I am not here to control your conduct; in the common school the teacher governs the pupil, in college the young men govern themselves.” There was a sudden calm.

Prof. Evans, who held the Chair of Mathematics, was one whose knowledge of the science and whose investigations went far beyond the range of our studies. Terse, but kind in speech, he was a most competent and inspiring teacher in a field which some found dry and difficult. He was called from Marietta to Cornell. There was in college at this time, though not in my class, a student named Payne, who had almost a genius for mathematics and who naturally admired Prof. Evans. Soon after the close of the war I met Payne down in Tennessee, where he held a chair in Tennessee University at Knoxville. He related that on his return from an Eastern trip he stopped over night at Cornell to visit with Prof. Evans and, said he, “We sat up and talked until two o’clock.” I asked what they could find to talk about until such an hour. “Oh,” he replied, “we were discussing the form of the ultimate atom: two theories you know, one that it is circular and the other that it is triangular,” and he reeled off a series of equations which did not speak to me at all. Think of it – sitting up till two o’clock in the morning, spinning equations in an argument over a very small point. But we know that in the enthusiasms of genius, often food for smiles to ordinary mortals, were born the discoveries, inventions and ideals which have marked the progress of the world.

With 1861 came the war and the college was intensely stirred. We were on the border – just across the Ohio was Virginia. A regiment of artillery was ordered to Marietta in April and from that time until the close of the war a camp was always there. Games and recreations gave place to military drill, the campus became a drill ground. Many left college in response to the first and later calls for troops. Seven members of my class were of this number. Of students who remained, nearly all entered the army after graduation. Of twelve of my class who completed their course, ten rendered army service. Of Marietta men who joined the army, many of whom rendered conspicuous service and reached high rank, a full record is given in “Marietta College in the War,” a volume published by the faculty after the close of the war.

It is one of the compensations of age that memory holds and brings back to us the faces, the voices, the life of early years. The atmosphere, the songs, the laughter, the genial friendly intercourse, the thrill and relish of intellectual gain, these cannot be recorded on paper, but looking back over the long road since traveled, in the high horizon there they shine, bright, glad, helpful days at Old Marietta.

Chandler Belden Beach (1839-1928) was born in Cumberland, Ohio, the son of Edwards Abbot Beach and Rhoda (Churchill) Beach. After graduating from Marietta College as the valedictorian in 1863, Beach served in the Civil War in the Quartermaster Department. Married to Laura Nerni, he spent most of his life in Chicago, where he founded the C. B. Beach Publishing Company.

Subscription List for Charitable Contributions, 1806

2008-04-04T09:26:00.005-04:00

Transcription

[Page 1]:

Adams [Township] June 2d, 1806

We the undersigned agree to pay into the hands of Wm. Stacy the several sums anex’d to each of our names in produce deliver’d in December next for the purpose of hiring Benjamin Baker Jnr. Boarded at some house near to the school house, or those of us that live contiguous to the school house to board him the No. of weeks anex’d to each of our names as he is a Cripple & unable to travel from his Father’s to the school daily without great fatigue

Names of Subscribers – Sums in Produce or No. of weeks
Israel Stone – 1.00
Augustus Stone – 0.50
Joseph Wood – 2 weeks
Oliver W. Fuller – 1.00
Joseph Stacy - .50
Sardine Stone - .50
William Stacy – 2 weeks
Andw. Lake – 0.50
Thomas Lake – 2 weeks
John Lake - .50
Benjamin Baker – 3.50

[Page 2]:

No person has refused to throw in their mites for the Assistance of an unfortunate fellow creature (the little Cripple named within) who has had the opportunity of signing except that liberal Public spirited benevolent & humane saint E. Nye who of his abundance has nothing to give to the lame.

Notes

This document suggests that early settlers along the Muskingum River were supportive of education for all children and were willing to provide financial assistance from their own pockets to those who needed it. Many of these people had benefited from a New England education, and although they were now living in a wilderness, they wanted their own children to be educated, as well. The first school houses were built about the time the first cabins were completed. School was kept about three months each year, and children attended when they could be spared from their chores at home.

Although this document’s source is noted as Adams Township, the names that appear on the list indicate that it probably originated on the west side of the Muskingum River in what later became Muskingum Township, Washington County, Ohio. Benjamin Baker, Jr., the “little Cripple named within,” was the son of Benjamin Baker, Sr., and his wife Sarah (Newton) Baker. Benjamin, Sr., was born in Connecticut about 1768, and came to Marietta about 20 years later as a bound servant of Colonel Thomas Lord. On September 1, 1791, he was married to Sarah Newton in Marietta, Ohio. Benjamin drew a 100-acre lot in the Donation Tract, and the family had moved up the Muskingum to Adams [now Muskingum] Township by the time the 1800 census was taken. Benjamin Baker’s name also appears in the Adams Township enumeration of free white males in 1807. The Bakers moved to Barlow Township in 1818, where both Benjamin, Sr., and his wife Sarah, died in 1839. Benjamin Baker, Jr., married Polly Gard, January 1, 1827, and moved his family to Illinois about 1845. They appear on the 1860 census in Henry County, with Benjamin’s occupation listed as tailor.

The other name so conspicuously called to attention in the document is that of E. Nye. This almost certainly refers to Ebenezer Nye, who is also listed in the Adams Township census in 1800, as well as the enumeration of free white males in 1807. Nye was born in Connecticut in 1750, and in 1790 traded his farm there for a share in the Ohio Company’s purchase. He arrived in Marietta that fall, and stayed at Campus Martius until the end of the Indian war. Nye drew a lot in the Rainbow Creek Allotment of the Donation Tract, situated opposite the mouth of March Run in Adams (now Muskingum) Township and built a cabin there. Nye’s first wife, Desire Sawyer, died about 1800, and in 1802 he married Silence Gardner, the widow (ex-wife?) of Benoni Gardner. Ebenezer Nye died on his farm in 1823. Whatever his reasons for failing to contribute to the support of Benjamin Baker, Jr.’s education, a sketch of Nye’s life that appeared in a newspaper in 1879 described him as “a man of strict integrity of character . . . liberal and free from intolerance, and had the entire confidence of neighbors and friends.”

Sources

History of Washington County, Ohio, With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches. H. Z. Williams & Bro., publishers. Cleveland: 1881.

Palmer, Lydia. Untitled article on history of Palmer Township. Part of an unpublished manuscript entitled “Historical Sketches, Genealogical Notes Prepared in 1887,” prepared by S. J. Hathaway. Transcribed in 1969.

License for the Marriage of Winthrop Sargent and Rowena Tupper

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On January 20, 1789, Governor Arthur St. Clair issued a license for the marriage of Winthrop Sargent and Rowena Tupper. Supposed to have been the first marriage in the Northwest Territory (now the states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin), the ceremony took place on February 6, 1789, in Marietta. It was performed by Rufus Putnam, who was a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, as well as superintendent of the Ohio Company. The bride was the 22-year-old daughter of a Revolutionary War veteran, General Benjamin Tupper, and his wife Huldah (White) Tupper. Winthrop Sargent was 13 years older than his new wife and held the very prestigious position of secretary of the Northwest Territory. Both were natives of Massachusetts.

Benjamin Tupper was one of the original founders of the Ohio Company, and the Tuppers were among the first families to arrive at the new settlement of Marietta in August of 1788. While their own quarters in the Campus Martius stockade were being prepared, they lived for a short time with Winthrop Sargent. Perhaps this is where the marriage plans first began to form, as Rowena Tupper’s brother-in-law, Ichabod Nye, noted that “Serjant began his courtship with Miss Tupper the first fall.” General Tupper and Sargent also became partners in Ohio Company business, and matters seemed to proceed very pleasantly for awhile.

In a letter to a friend back in New England, dated November 18, 1788, Rowena described her new life on the frontier with enthusiasm:

You doubtless have had various conjectures concerning our situation. I wish my Dear it was possible to give you an exact idea of it. This I am persuaded, that we are much happier than you Conceive of. The Country has been so often spoken of that it is needless for me to say more than that it answers every expectation. The society far exceeds whatever my ideas had formed and I think should Heaven but spare my life, I shall spend a very sociable Winter. The inhabitants increase very fast, our Buildings are decent & Comfortable. The Indians appear to be perfectly friendly. Their encampments are in sight of our Buildings but not withstanding their professed friendship we are not unguarded. There is a guard placed every night.

The winter of 1788-89 was an eventful one for the new settlers at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers. In December, about 200 Indian warriors arrived at Fort Harmar to participate in the negotiations for a treaty. The treaty was concluded on January 9, and a feast, highlighted with wine and speeches, was held in the hall at Campus Martius. Before the winter was over, however, many Marietta residents were in a state of near starvation. The weather was extremely cold and the rivers were clogged with ice, preventing travel for supplies. Even turkeys, venison, and bear meat were scarce, and the pioneers ate little more than boiled corn for weeks on end. If Rowena had a wedding celebration, the fare must have been very meager, indeed.

The sociable times that Rowena (Tupper) Sargent had anticipated before her marriage may never have come to pass. Although Winthrop Sargent was a man of high position, his personality and temperament seem to have been lacking. In his memoir, Ichabod Nye describes Sargent as “a consummate Tyrant & Raskale – no body loved him tho some bowed to him; he could be a Gentleman outwardly.”

Shortly after his marriage to Rowena, Winthrop Sargent cut off contact with her family. Ichabod Nye commented as follows:

General Tupper’s situation was rendered farther verrey unpleasant after Serjant married his daughter, he Serjant, put on his True Character – he became very imperious & haughty & treated the general oute of Characture – left comming into his house & Broke off all civil & Social Intercourse with the fameley, which was a most mortifying & trying to the Gen’ls feeling, he doted much on his daughter.

Rowena endured these conditions for nearly a year, until she died at the age of 23. A neighbor, Thomas Wallcut, reported in his journal that “Mrs. Sargent died about one of the clock of childbed sickness,” on Friday, January 29, 1790. Walcutt attended her funeral on the afternoon of January 31, and said that the “obsequies were performed with decency and respect.”

Although Rowena’s death was sadly lamented by her family, their broken relationship with Winthrop Sargent was not. Rowena’s nephew, Horace Nye, recalled Sargent as “a proud arristocratic man fond of stile & good living. He left home while my Aunt was sick to attend to duties at Cincinnati. I do not recollect seeing him afterward.”

The following year, Sargent served with Governor Arthur St. Clair in an unsuccessful campaign against the Indians in western Ohio, where he was wounded twice during the conflicts. In 1798, Sargent resigned as secretary of the Northwest Territory to become the first governor of the Mississippi Territory, and he married the widow Mary (McIntosh) Williams the same year. He was removed from his office by President Thomas Jefferson in 1801, and died near New Orleans in 1820.

Sources:

Hildreth, S. P. Pioneer History: Being an Account of the First Examinations of the Ohio Valley, and the Early Settlement of the Northwest Territory. Cincinnati: H. W. Derby & Co., 1848.

Nye, Horace. Unpublished document written for S. P. Hildreth in 1844, Hildreth Papers, Vol. 1, No. 162, Marietta College Library.

Nye, Ichabod. “A Biographical Sketch of the Origin & Descent of Gen’l. Benjamin Tupper and the Memoirs of Ichabod Nye." Unpublished typescript, Marietta College Library.

Tupper, Rowena. Transcription of unpublished letter, November 18, 1788, Tupper Family Papers, T-18, Marietta College Library.

Wallcut, Thomas. Journal of Thomas Wallcut, in 1790. Ed. by George Dexter. Cambridge: University Press, 1879.